


only the desperate and foolish

by starforged



Category: The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: F/F, Spoilers, The Language of Thorns, When Water Sang Fire, post-When Water Sang Fire, sad lady gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-09 14:45:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12278682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starforged/pseuds/starforged
Summary: They would destroy each other, in the end, and she was more than happy with that outcome. It was the destiny she had written for them, one final song.Ulla/Signy, post-When Water Sang Fire.





	only the desperate and foolish

There were many who sought her out. Who dared to venture into her caves, into the cold and darkness to find a monster. It was said that the sea whip was not the only beast that roamed the seas, though Ulla didn’t find herself to be much of a roamer. And when they found her, they fought and they died. Or they bargained and they lived. People were willing to sacrifice for so little, and she found that she had a certain soft spot for that. Fame, fortune, power.

Her favorite, though, was love. 

Because wasn’t it love that had brought Ulla here? Wasn’t it love that had destroyed her people from below and the people from above, love that had given her a new body?

Love that had ripped the song from her throat and dashed it against the rocks like the waves she ruled now?

And so she took and she promised loved, but knew that it would never last. 

When the princesses were born, Ulla knew they would seek her out. She would rip them from their parents one by one until Roffe and Signy were as hollow as she was now. They would destroy each other, in the end, and she was more than happy with that outcome. It was the destiny she had written for them, one final song. 

It took three princesses for a panic to bubble beneath the surface of the water. Three princesses who had disappeared or withered or gone mad. Three princesses, the people whispered, who had made a deal with the sea witch. And they knew of her, because hadn’t a few of their own gone to her before? 

“Ulla.”  


Signy’s arrival wasn’t war, yet. It wasn’t anger. Her voice was soft, but defeated. The fire had gone out of her a long time ago, Ulla realized, when she allowed her old wound to swim into her home to seek her out. It was a moment of weakness. She hadn’t expected Signy, and yet here she was, a flickering ember in place of the woman she once knew. 

Ulla lounged comfortably in the rock she had carved around her, slick black tail coiled around in the shallow pool she most enjoyed conducting her business in. This was, after all, business. 

Three princesses. Three daughters. 

“Ulla,” Signy murmured again, her face contorted in agony.   


“Only the desperate or the foolish seek me out, Signy,” Ulla said in return. She would not honor her by adding her title; she recognized no authority but her own, and hadn’t it been her gift that secured the throne?  


“Then I am both desperate and foolish.” She swam closer, shoulders hunched, body stiff. Her red hair was tightly wound to her scalp, no longer carefree as it had been in their youth. 

She was still beautiful, Ulla had to admit. She hated herself for it. 

“What have you done, Ulla? My daughters had nothing to do with us, with the crimes you hold over our heads. This wasn’t their choice.” The queen was _pleading_ with her. No, her friend was.

No. 

She was not a friend. Friends did not betray each other for a crown. 

“They came to me willingly,” Ulla said. She shifted in her seat, leaning forward, a cascade of dark hair flowing over her shoulders as she did.   


Signy shrunk back, visibly uncomfortable. Good. She deserved to be. “Willingly.”

“All who come here are willing. All wish for something, and all are willing to pay the price for it.” Her throat was already beginning to hurt, her voice scratchier the more she talked. Ulla had learned long ago that it had an effect on those she made deals with.   


And despite it all, her cowardice, her discomfort, Signy came closer. Maybe it was anger, a kindling that stirred in her that had begun with her daughters. Maybe it was seeing Ulla after all this time, being forced to confront what she had helped to create. If Ulla was to blame for the princesses, then so was Signy. So was Roffe. 

Ulla wasn’t sure what to make of it. There was a spark of pride, perhaps. But mostly, there was a bitter loneliness that had been created when Signy had left with Roffe. She had been cruel and cowardly, and yet Ulla still craved her company. 

She just hadn’t realized it until now, until Signy was here in front of her, close enough to touch. 

“Punish me, if you must, but not my daughters. I’ll strike a deal with you,” Signy told her.   


“No.”  


It was a pleasure to see the confusion tear across the queen’s face, to see her moment of bravery denied with an easy word. 

“No?”  


“You were given a choice once,” Ulla said. She slid out of her seat until she was in the pool, face to face with Signy. “To be a cruel queen or to be left behind with me.”

Signy glanced down for a moment, her lips pursed. “I loved him.”

“But not me?”  


“I loved you.” She looked up as she said it, and Ulla believed her.

Or maybe she was desperate, foolish. 

“Then you should have made the right choice.”  


Whatever Signy had told herself all of these years, Ulla didn’t care to hear it. Signy had allowed herself to become cruel in that decision, had decided being a rotten and hollow queen was more important than the life she could have had with Ulla. Their magic could have healed and created. Instead, it had blackened into dust. 

One without a voice, one who refused it.

It startled her to have Signy’s hand in hers, fingers threading together as if they had a will of their own. Her throat ached, her eyes burned, and an emptiness in her chest threatened to break open. 

“Allow my remaining daughters freedom from your curse, and I’ll make the right choice, Ulla. Please.” Her other hand came up to cup her face. 

She wondered if Roffe had set this up in that moment, if he had sent his wife in as a sacrifice, if she was a decoy. 

The impossibility of it all, of having her heart shattered twice in a lifetime by the same person, was too much to bear.

Her answer was a storm, small and violent, but it was enough to send Signy far from her.


End file.
